The server couldn't complete this action. Error Code: 0x803d0014 / Can I still use and synch with Onenote 2016?

Question

In the last few days I've noticed that my windows desktop version of this app (2016) can't synchronise pages. Looking more closely the Synch progress message says "not connected" as the reason the synch is failing.

This has worked problem free until now. I also have Onenote on an Android device and that is still able to synch with Onedrive where my old remote file resides. I can see this via Onedrive and open the Note file online.

I read a Community thread which suggested to close and reopen the Onenote file locally to reestablish the Windows version connection. But having done that I cannot seem to be able to open the file at all locally now!

The same thread suggested creating a new Onenote file to see if this is a local issue. I have created a new Onenote file locally - the setup process then says that I have to share the new file via Onedrive (which I expected) when I do this however I get the error message above - error code 0x803d0014. The new Onenote file appears initially synch'd in Onedrive Documents directory, but the test pages created locally are missing, the file is just a shell.

I hope these are not all symptoms of Onenote 2016 now being unusable? Until the last few days I've had no synching issues at all. Thanks for any feedback

Answer 1

Hi Soli,

Thanks for posting back.

Regarding your question, there is no official article explaining this error code. It typically indicates a problem with syncing or opening online notebooks. Based on your reply, I suggest you try the following suggestions to troubleshoot further.

1. Since your system is Windows 7, I recommend you run the Easy Fix Tool to add TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 Secure Protocol registry keys. After that, please restart your computer and check again.
2. I suggest you switch to another Windows user profile, run OneNote, and check again. This can help us to troubleshoot whether the issue is caused by the local environment in your original Windows user profile.

If the issue still occurs after trying the above suggestions, I think it may be related to your Windows system. Would you be willing to upgrade your system to Windows 10 or Windows 11?

Appreciate your understanding and patience.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Hi Soli_gooner,

Thanks for posting back.

I'm glad to know that everything is running well now. The issue is caused by the TLS protocol. Since your system is Windows 7, you need to run the Easy Fix Tool to add the relevant secure protocol registry keys.

If my reply on October 3 was helpful, please sign into your account first, and then send feedback on it. This will help other members who have the same concern.

![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/84b7a854-1c9a-4b73-b113-8eb74cd38439?platform=QnA

Answer 3

Hello,

I've also run a Windows update specifically on a patch / KB which sets the registry keys as mentioned above. As soon as that had run, all of my Notebooks started synch'ing again, so that this seems to be what was required. New changes are synching immediately now across PC, mobile and Onedrive.

Thanks.

Answer 4

Hi Soli_gooner,

Thanks for posting back.

Based on your reply, the new notebook has been successfully synced. This is good news. You can add some content to the new notebook and check if the OneNote app can sync the content successfully.

If it works well, first, you can try to sync your old notebooks and check the results. Also, you can try to export an old notebook as a local notebook (choose a not large notebook), open the local notebook, upload it to the server, and then check the results. For the detailed steps, you can view the video in this thread.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 5

Thanks for this. I will explore a new user on my machine. Need to create one for this.

But the situation is getting a bit more confusing and I don't know if this affects what you are recommending.

One of the earlier tests in another post was to create a new book / file and see if the error occurred - prior to my having reinstalled Office Professional 2016 this did happen I got the same error.

Yesterday post reinstall - as well as doing the tests above - I tried again, this time creating a new book, locally and then trying to move it to Onenote to be able to synch /share. The local version wasn't able to do this and errored.

But then 24 hrs later I looked again in the app to see the state of things. My original old book will not synchronise; however the the new book from yesterday is now on the one drive site - except not all of the detail is contained within the test section and pages I created. So that it seems with big delays, some data is partially synchronising - does that alter conclusions so far I wonder? Thanks.